WI: Patrick Bouvier Kennedy Lives?

[theReturner]

I was doing a little Kennedy research, and to my surprise, I found the JFK and Jackie actually had a child in 1963, but sadly, the child died an infant just a few days after a emergency caesarean section was preformed. This is from the Wiki...

Patrick Bouvier Kennedy (August 7, 1963 – August 9, 1963) was the youngest child of United States President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy and brother to Caroline Kennedy and John F. Kennedy Jr. He was born five and a half weeks prematurely by emergency caesarean section at the Otis Air Force Base Hospital in Bourne, Massachusetts, with a birth weight of 4 pounds 10½ ounces (2.11 kg),[1] and was transferred to Boston Children's Hospital where he died two days later of hyaline membrane disease. His obituary in The New York Times stated that, at that time, all that could be done for a victim of hyaline membrane disease "is to monitor the infant's blood chemistry and to try to keep it near normal levels."

So, lets say that Patrick was born five and a half weeks later, as was expected, and lived into adulthood. What impact would this have had in both the long and short-term, for the Kennedy family?

 

[RogueBeaver]

Not that much TBH. Remember that they also had a miscarried daughter, Arabella, in 1956. It was notorious because a) Jack was yachting with George Smathers and a mini-harem of Mediterranean blonds when Jackie miscarried b) the press called him out on it c) as usual Bobby made the funeral arrangements. John Jr. and Caroline are the ones to watch as usual.

 

[DSS]

This is a tough sort of WI, because we have no idea what sort of personality he would have, whether he would be inspired to go into politics like the other Kennedys, etc.

 

[RogueBeaver]

What Dude said. Also, Jackie had a history of miscarriages and disliked the less savory parts of child-rearing, if one catches my drift. That's partly why I shoot down anyone who proposes that Bobby marry her in ATLs.

 

[hcallega]

What Dude said. Also, Jackie had a history of miscarriages and disliked the less savory parts of child-rearing, if one catches my drift. That's partly why I shoot down anyone who proposes that Bobby marry her in ATLs.

Good point. Despite the obvious personality differences, the two were very different in their roles as parents. Bobby was very much the paternal master and guardian, and he assumed that role fo JFK Jr. and Caroline, whereas Jackie was that kind of aloof yet still perfectly loving mom.

I remember watching a newsreel of Bobby when the story of him reading comics to JFK Jr. and Caroline was brought up. In his typically awkward way, Bobby replied "No no, no no." He then said that he read them actual books. I remember seing this sense of almost anger that anyone dare mention that he would not be a serious father to those children.

 

[RogueBeaver]

Oh, heavens yes. Hickory Hill was part circus (no small thanks to Bobby Jr.), part university seminar, part boot camp, with a healthy religious dose in there too. Bobby was by far the best father of all of them, and Jackie was the best mother. I haven't seen that story but it makes perfect sense given the dinner table seminars he had with his own kids.

TR: it was SIDS before the term was coined.

 

[RogueBeaver]

Bobby was also the only one who was tactile with his kids (in both a good and punitive, tickle-tumbles were not always ticklish)*- which was partly his personality, partly because his father wasn't like that at all. Ditto with paying attention to everyone, not just the favorites, as with David, who was playing a similar role in his family that Bobby himself played as a preteen. Except the rock-throwing thing, which was just stupid. He took his paternal role more seriously than just about anything in the temporal world.

Re "father": And that is where all that libelous and defamatory "Bobby and Jackie" crap propagated by RL trolls such as Heymann comes from.

*Yes, that could include RL facepalming for boys. You man up to it "Kennedys don't cry", 30 seconds later it's forgotten by everyone. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFYhSQ0WvL4

 

[RogueBeaver]

One last point: given his comments about welfare in essence sapping a father's masculinity, it is clear that fatherhood/masculinity were closely related in his mind. So you can very much understand the rather impassioned response.

 

[Orville_third]

TR: it was SIDS before the term was coined.

I think it was more Neonatal Respiratory Distress Syndrome (FKA Hyaline Membrane Disease) It was (almost always?) fatal in 1963, still somewhat risky in 1979-1980 when I had it, and is now (relatively) easily treatable thanks to artificial surfactants.
Perhaps if someone has a bright idea and is in a position to implement it (I'm sure JFK would approve of an experimental therapy if the condition would be otherwise untreatable), it could work. (PBK would have other problems to deal with, though...)
A few butterflies:
-This could reduce the death rate from premature births.
-JFK and/or Jackie could become a prominent spokesperson for the March of Dimes (which focused on prematurity and birth defects back in 1958...)
-It could affect treatment of other lung conditions and research into them as well.
IOTL his death did improve awareness of prematurity, and treatment or respiratory problems in premature infants. Had he been born normally, I might not be writing to you... (TBMK the only public figures who could have been affected would be Freddie Highmore and (possibly) Lady Louise Windsor)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infant_respiratory_distress_syndrome
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Bouvier_Kennedy

 

[Don Lardo]

TR: it was SIDS before the term was coined.

No it wasn't. It was entirely due to the child being a "preemie". Not too long ago, being born even a few weeks premature was a death sentence. Oddly enough, The Economist touched on this child's death in a recent obituary.

The subject of the obit was a New Zealand doctor who discovered/developed the first of the many treatments which now give premature babies a far better chance of survival. In an attempt to examine how labor is triggered in mammals, he had been experimenting with sheep and came across a simple steroid treatment which prepared a fetus' lungs for operation. The same steroid, cortisol IIRC, works for humans too and, if given to the mother when premature labor occurs or a premature c-section performed, the child's lungs can begin to function well enough for the child to survive outside the womb.

I've a relative who was in pediatric medicine for over three decades beginning in the late 1950s and can remember their awe/joy in the seeming cascade of treatments for "preemies" beginning in the mid-70s. In the space of a few years, they went from seeing children born only weeks early die despite all efforts to seeing children born months early surviving with little if any deficits.

I remember their constant talk about one child in particular who was the first and/or youngest of the "preemies" their hospital had been able to keep alive with the new techniques. As part of the medical team, my relative was invited by the child's family to birthdays and graduations for years afterward.

P.S. I found the obit I blathered about at The Economist's site. Here's the link